29th anniversary of the Challenger Explosion

[Themightytom]

http://hosted2.ap.org/NHCON/c26bcf5af6b ... 9dba1b198a

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Wednesday marks the 29th anniversary of the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger, which killed all seven crew members, including New Hampshire schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe.

The shuttle exploded 73 seconds after liftoff from Cape Canaveral on Jan. 28, 1986.

McAuliffe was a social studies teacher at Concord High School. She was picked from among 11,000 candidates to be the first teacher and private citizen in space.

Today, an elementary school in Concord bears her name, in addition to the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center and the high school's auditorium. A painting of her in her astronaut uniform is in the lobby.

The Concord school district itself and the city have observed the Challenger anniversary quietly through the years, partly to respect the privacy of the McAuliffe family.

The article has kind of a local focus, I went to preschool across the street from Concord High, and distinctly remember a helicopter making an appearance there during nap time for some reason, then a year later I was watching from a classroom when the shuttle blew up. it was a major setback for NASA in terms of PR and really reinforced the dangers in just getting to orbit.

[Ahriman238]

It's been kind of pushed out of the news here in favor of the weather and Tsarnev's trial starting, but well worth remembering.